Friends of Conservation – Friends of the Masai Mara

Protects wildlife in the Masai Mara and other wildlife reserves in Kenya and Tanzania, through habitat conservation programs, anti-poaching efforts, youth education, and community development.

In every part of the world, climate change is having devastating long-term impacts, threatening the future of wildlife and displacing ecosystems. The Greater Masai Mara Region of Kenya is no exception. Last year, tidal waves of drought swept through the area, before the long-delayed rains finally arrived.

The Masai Mara region is the Kenyan portion of the world-renowned Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem, which spans the Kenya-Tanzania border. Each year, the Great Migration, one of the most eagerly awaited wildlife spectacles on Earth, occurs there and in the northern Serengeti. The area is also a valuable resource for the Maasai people, who have inhabited the region for centuries.

Friends of Conservation works to protect and conserve this area. We work with local partners to support traditional and sustainable ways of living in harmony with the environment, and to promote climate change solutions, conservation, and health initiatives in local communities. For example, we work hand-in-hand with the Maasai people to reforest land that has been degraded, to restore natural habitat, and to develop energy options that reduce the use of forest resources. Each year, we engage more than half of the region’s 10,000 students in environmental programs, through Conservation Clubs in schools. In addition, our Mobile Education Unit brings the message of conservation to remote regions, reaching some of the more than 50 percent of Maasai children who do not attend school.

Photo banner: FOC’s grassroots conservation projects assist the people of Africa to manage habitat and wildlife as a sustainable natural resource.
Photo right: FOC helps women’s groups build on traditional skills to provide a sustainable source of income for themselves and their families.